When a Premier League participant desires a automotive, Riccardo Leighton kinds it.
The checklist of names he is labored with down the years would give any group a run for his or her cash: Harry Kane, John Terry, Kyle Walker, Paul Pogba, John Stones, Bruno Fernandes, Eberechi Eze, Leroy Sane, Georginio Wijnaldum, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Diogo Dalot, Viktor Gyokeres, Antony, Trevoh Chalobah, Sam Johnstone, Yannick Bolasie, and so forth. You get the purpose.
Since 2016, Leighton has sourced, financed, delivered and helped customise vehicles for the sport’s elite, although he focuses on the primary two as of late together with his firm, Extremely Vita. The most costly he is handled has been a £1.2million Bugatti – although gamers must be cautious of being flashy above their station.
‘I bear in mind one participant shopping for a Lamborghini when he was 19,’ says Leighton. ‘He drove it to the coaching floor and obtained informed by the membership that he needed to promote it! However he was the wrong way up within the deal so he was paying that off for a few years.’
Different gamers pimp their rides, with requests for fittings together with PlayStations and occasional machines. However essentially the most devoted see their each day commute as a time to reinforce their efficiency.
‘We have had a couple of Mercedes V-Class vehicles the place they’ll package out the within with restoration sleeves for the gamers’ legs whereas they sit within the again,’ Leighton reveals. ‘A few gamers have requested for ice restoration machines to be put in (sleeves that act as chilly compresses to cut back swelling and irritation).’
Riccardo Leighton’s job is to supply and finance vehicles for footballers (pictured with Harry Kane)
Considered one of his most up-to-date purchasers was Arsenal’s £64million summer time signing Viktor Gyokeres
Leighton has been within the recreation for round a decade and says treating footballers (similar to John Terry, proper) as common blokes is the way in which to go
Leighton’s success reveals one thing about footballers’ personalities: most of them simply need to be handled like common blokes.
‘I simply deal with them usually and that appeals to them,’ he explains. ‘It isn’t, “Can I’ve an image?” on a regular basis. Clearly there’s a couple of for the corporate’s social media.
‘You may get near the gamers and converse with them on a standard foundation. I’ve performed golf and padel with a couple of. Tom Huddlestone is among the finest at golf that I’ve performed with.
‘Getting a automotive is a problem so I deal with all of it for them. As an alternative of them going to their native dealership and getting mobbed, I am going to discover what they need, ship all of them the choices and kind the paperwork. I am trustworthy with them on the finance aspect. That is the place I construct that belief with them.’
It helps that he is capable of converse their language. Leighton is a former youth prospect, having been with Nottingham Forest as a child.
In his teenage years, a Manchester United scout noticed him in an exhibition recreation at Meadow Lane and set him up on a Youth Coaching Scheme at Welsh membership TNS, with a view to becoming a member of the Pink Devils’ set-up if he progressed nicely. However destiny had different concepts.
‘I did my knee in my second 12 months of residing away,’ he says. ‘I used to be 17 once I first did my ACL after which I did my cartilage. I retired at 19. I had 4 operations and by the age of 25, I had the knee of a 40-year-old!’
Issues typically have a method of working themselves out. Leighton’s misfortune finally led to him assembly former West Ham striker Marlon Harewood, whereas taking part in native soccer in Nottinghamshire.
Leighton realized the commerce underneath Marlon Harewood, the previous West Ham striker who began customising vehicles for footballers
Former Manchester United winger Antony gave Leighton a signed shirt after he helped the Brazilian purchase a Lamborghini Aventador
Leighton kinds all the effort for gamers, which means they do not get mobbed on the lookout for vehicles
Since retiring, Harewood had pivoted into customising vehicles together with his firm AC13 Premier. That is how Leighton obtained his break. The duo labored collectively at a time when Harewood’s enterprise, which he co-owned, was booming with customized from elite stars. Regardless of the gamers wished doing, AC13 would discover a method.
Leighton has constructed up an enviable e-book of cellphone numbers. ‘I’ve most likely obtained a contact in most soccer golf equipment up and down the leagues,’ he says. ‘One of many greatest issues for me is phrase of mouth between gamers. And once I was doing the Viktor Gyokeres deal, I ran into one other participant as a result of he was viewing a home subsequent door! So then I spoke to him.’
Serving to names from mainland Europe is an effective supply of earnings. ‘A couple of gamers carry their vehicles over from overseas, that are left-hand drives. I bear in mind transport Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot’s vehicles over from Portugal and delivering them to them on the Manchester United coaching floor. In the summertime, they ship the vehicles again to their houses over there.’
Antony was so happy together with his £337,000 Lamborghini Aventador in 2022 that he gifted Leighton a signed United shirt.
If the automotive wizard had had extra luck together with his knee, possibly he would have been the one meting out the signed shirts. However Leighton has stumbled throughout a job that fits him to a tee – and he is eager to make use of his personal story to information younger athletes.
‘I do use my expertise in my talks with younger gamers,’ he concludes. ‘It is a good level to point out them to have one thing else to fall again on of their lives, as soccer can change so shortly.’
